In a report for FoxSports.com, Ken Rosenthal says rival executives list the following problems for Oliver Perez:

“He had the lowest groundball percentage in the National League last season… His walk rate was the third highest in the league after Barry Zito and Ian Snell… And he has yet to pitch 200 innings in a season.”

Last night, on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove, Mets GM Omar Minaya had the following to say, when asked if Perez was his number one target from the current free-agent pitcher’s market:

“Well, I’m not going to disclose to you who is my number one target (laughs)… It’s a tricky situation because the agent, Scott Boras, controlled both Derek Lowe and Perez, so we decided to negotiate with Derek first, but we could have easily negotiated with Perez first…

“Perez might be the best option for us… We feel good with him, his a good teammate, you don’t know what to expect with him sometimes, pitching, or even hitting (laughs), but he’s fun, he’s your prototypical lefty… That being said, there are other guys out there… However, we are negotiating, we have been talking with Scott Boras about Oliver since the GM Meetings, slowly talking about him and it’s built up.”

To watch all of Minaya’s discussion about Perez and the starting pitcher’s market, courtesy of SNY, click here.

Yesterday, on WFAN, Mike Francesa said Perez could end up signing Minaya’s reported three-year, $30 million offer, according to a ‘field reporter.’

…personally, i feel there is little-to-no-chance of perez and boras accepting a low-ball, three-year, $30 million offer in mid-January… frankly, it would not surprise me to see perez end up signing just a one-year deal,like Kyle Lohse did, with a team like the Rangers, Dodgers or Cardinals, who could overpay on the dollars, while knowing it is only a short-term situation… then, perez can take his campaign to the road again next off-season, like lohse, who ended up signing a four-year deal the following winter… or, the Mets will have to wait on boras to create a market for perez, and who knows how that will end up…

…in other words, if it’s a four-year deal they’re talking about, i think the Mets are perez’s only real option, which reduces the money he’ll be offered… however, if it’s a one-year deal that’s in play, suddenly boras will have more teams to leverage against the Mets, which could raise perez’s salary for the year…

Nevertheless, Rosenthal adds, “Pedro Martinez also remains on Minaya’s radar, as does free-agent Ben Sheets, pending a review of his medical records.”